Grade 2 students were learning about the solar system in Science so I decided to do a large group mural based on the sun & moon. This project required a significant amount of prep work on my behalf but the results were all worth it.
My prep work before the lesson was to put students into groups of 3 or 4 according to ability levels, personalities and friendships. Since there are approximately 300 students in Grade 2, you can well imagine that this was quite a task! I also had to arrange for each group to receive one canvas of 60cm x 60cm which meant securing a budget from the finance department. Always lovely working with them :)
Materials required
- A5 paper
- colour pencils or markers
- acrylic paints, brushes
- a large assortment of craft items such as beads, sequins, fabric, glitter, etc.
- white glue
- hot glue gun (to be used only by the teacher)
Duration: 4 lessons of 80 minutes each
1. First I had the students get into their groups and as a starter activity, had them brainstorm 5 rules that their group would follow. They all came up with rules like respect each other, be kind, help one another, etc. All valid answers.
2. Next, in their groups I gave each student an A5 paper and asked them to draw an abstract sun or moon. I had images on the board to give them ideas of how to make a simple, circular sun abstract. For example, they could draw concentric circles for the sun and triangles for the rays. They came up with pretty good ideas, here are a few.
3. Now it was time for each group to look at each other's drawings and vote on whose drawing was the best. The drawing with the most votes would get selected and drawn onto the canvas for the final piece. You might witness a few disappointed faces but as long as you tell them that this is a team effort, it's all good! This was the end of the first lesson.
4. After making the final drawing on canvas, it is time to start painting. The students work as a team so each student is painting different areas of the canvas. This process took me about 2 lessons as I had to tell the kids over and over to keep their colours vibrant and paint a flat tone of colour.
5. In the fourth lesson, students added embellishments such as beads, sequins, fabric, glitter, etc. Those items that were not sticking well with white glue such as pearls, I stuck down with a hot glue gun.
Enjoy the results!
My prep work before the lesson was to put students into groups of 3 or 4 according to ability levels, personalities and friendships. Since there are approximately 300 students in Grade 2, you can well imagine that this was quite a task! I also had to arrange for each group to receive one canvas of 60cm x 60cm which meant securing a budget from the finance department. Always lovely working with them :)
Materials required
- A5 paper
- colour pencils or markers
- acrylic paints, brushes
- a large assortment of craft items such as beads, sequins, fabric, glitter, etc.
- white glue
- hot glue gun (to be used only by the teacher)
Duration: 4 lessons of 80 minutes each
1. First I had the students get into their groups and as a starter activity, had them brainstorm 5 rules that their group would follow. They all came up with rules like respect each other, be kind, help one another, etc. All valid answers.
2. Next, in their groups I gave each student an A5 paper and asked them to draw an abstract sun or moon. I had images on the board to give them ideas of how to make a simple, circular sun abstract. For example, they could draw concentric circles for the sun and triangles for the rays. They came up with pretty good ideas, here are a few.
4. After making the final drawing on canvas, it is time to start painting. The students work as a team so each student is painting different areas of the canvas. This process took me about 2 lessons as I had to tell the kids over and over to keep their colours vibrant and paint a flat tone of colour.
5. In the fourth lesson, students added embellishments such as beads, sequins, fabric, glitter, etc. Those items that were not sticking well with white glue such as pearls, I stuck down with a hot glue gun.
Enjoy the results!
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| Each 'square' is 60cm x 60cm. Can you guess how big it is? |
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